Hayley Jones admitted she was ‘shaking’ with joy after learning she was a bronze medal winner at the World Athletics Championships in Moscow on Sunday.

The 24-year-old, from Stapeley, Nantwich, brought the Great Britain baton home in fourth place in the final of the 4x100m.

She was back at the team hotel by the time she learned that a British protest against an illegal changeover by the French team, who had finished third, had been upheld.

That promoted GB to the podium and Jones said: “I can’t even think what to say, I’m shaking right now.

“We were all screaming in the corridor when we found out.

“It was so disappointing to finish fourth, it really is the worst place, so this is great.

“I heard that there were a few things that were a bit dodgy but with it taking so long to come through I thought the appeal had been rejected.”

Team-mate Dina Asher-Smith added: “It means so much to us. I’m over the moon, it’s such a shock.”

Team GB, also featuring Ashleigh Nelson and Annabelle Lewis, won heat two in 42.750secs and were well in contention in the final.

But ex-Malbank School pupil Jones was pipped to the line, clocking 42.870secs, and the medal presentation ceremony had taken place – with Jamaica first and USA second – before the appeal to the International Association of Athletics Federations that the French team’s second baton exchange took place outside the changeover zone proved successful.

The French took their case to the jury of appeal, but it was rejected.

That boosted the British team’s medal count to six overall at the championships.

The experience may have been cathartic for Jones, a former Crewe & Nantwich AC runner who now represents Wigan.

The former European junior champion ran out of her lane at the European Championships last year in a mistake which ultimately led to the team failing to qualify for the London Olympic Games.

Team member Lewis said: “We’ve worked so hard for this. I never thought I’d be so gutted with a fourth place in the world coming into it but to get a bronze is amazing.”